White house beer

[HaveADrinkOnMe]

I was thinking of brewing a batch of the White House Honey Ale in the next 2-3 weeks so that it will be ready for my birthday in January, I was just wondering if anyone has brewed a batch yet and what they thought of it.

 

[Soup4you2]

Brewed some up, and we happily drank it on election night. It's not bad at all.. everybody who tried it seemed to have loved it. Personally i think it needed a tiny bit more of a honey taste to it, as it's barely noticeable. Perhaps adding a little Honey malt to it, might give it that extra umph it needs.

 

[sweetcell]

there is a long thread about the white house recipes here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/white-house-beer-357936/

all your questions have been asked, and answered, already

 

[azntaiji]

Hi all,

I brewed a 1 Gal batch of NB's White House Honey Ale last Saturday.

I didn't have a Hydrometer at the time to measure OG, but I just got ahold of one today. I checked NB's site as well as this site which give me a general estimate of OG 1.062, and today while checking the gravity it came out to ~1.022.

Question is, most of the top layer of foam is gone from my fermentor and the airlock doesn't bubble - the inner cap is to the roof.

Getting a little worried, although I'm starting to wonder if it's my temp that's messing with everything. The house is at 62 degrees, and I have the fermentor in a dark closet wrapped in a blanket - does it need to be higher? And if I increase the temp, will the yeast reactivate or do I need torepitch?

 

[Hex23]

You are at about 65% apparent attenuation which is a little low, but may not be unreasonable. It might depend on which yeast you used (the dry Danstar Windsor or the Wyeast 1332). Yes, 62 is a little low for that yeast, but better to be on the lower side than higher side. I'm a little surprised at the advice in the NB instructions. Normally they are pretty good, but advising that it's OK to pitch once the wort gets to 78F is asking for some off flavors. I wonder if they got this recipe straight from the White House brewer - I'd also say skip the secondary too (give it a couple of weeks more in the primary once you're sure you've reached FG for the yeast to clean up). And their time based advice is a little misguided. Now that you have a hydrometer, use it to your advantage to let you know when things are done (sounds like that's what you are already starting to do).

If you wanted to try to eek out a couple more points you could warm the yeast to see if they will reactivate. Since we're only talking about a couple of points it might make sense to check the calibration on your new hydrometer. Testing in distilled water is best, but tapwater is OK too.

 

[colincbn]

I would love to be able to get Honey Malt here. I mean yeah, I could have it shipped from the U.S. But that would significantly raise my per glass price. For this beer I am willing to pay for the biscuit as I have no choice if I want to try out what the White House is making. But normally I only use the grains I can buy without paying international shipping.

But it looks like your recipe is pretty close to mine otherwise. So It seems I am at least on the right track.

 

[azntaiji]

Awesome, this is great info. Also, I used the dry yeast - when is the usual optimal temperature to pitch the yeast?

I'm going to check the calibration of my Hydrometer, which is something I should have done.

 

[cheesecake]

just let it go the colder temp will cause it to ferment slower

 

[Pappers_]

If by last Saturday, you mean four days ago, you need to let it go longer. Agree with the above advice - 62 F is fine for a fermentation temp.

 

[HaveADrinkOnMe]

Brewed some up, and we happily drank it on election night. It's not bad at all.. everybody who tried it seemed to have loved it. Personally i think it needed a tiny bit more of a honey taste to it, as it's barely noticeable. Perhaps adding a little Honey malt to it, might give it that extra umph it needs.

Well my buddy and I will probably brew a batch here in the next 2 weeks, I will keep in mind that it may need more honey malt, I personally would want the honey flavor to pop out almost as much as the ale taste.

I didn't want to scour through that whole huge thread on the topic to read past all sorts of political posts and videos, I just wanted to hear someone's reaction to how it tastes.

 

[Hex23]

Awesome, this is great info. Also, I used the dry yeast - when is the usual optimal temperature to pitch the yeast?

I'm going to check the calibration of my Hydrometer, which is something I should have done.

I've never used Windsor, but I've seen several folks claiming disappointing attenuation (like mid 60%). So your situation may not be unexpected.

As far as pitching temps it depends on the yeast, but generally you want to pitch at temps no higher than where you intend to ferment. Yeast manufacturers will give a temp range for their yeast. Where you want to ferment in that range depends on what qualities you want to accentuate (or subdue). It can be good practice to pitch a few degrees cooler and gradually warm to where you want to be, especially if your not wanting lots of fruity esters or harsh alcohols . The flavor profile of your beer is largely determined in the first 24 to 48 hours of fermentation. So at this point raising the temp to high 60's wont hurt anything and might help your attenuation.

 

[wilbr11]

I ended up with a FG at 1.018. Is this high for this? I'm wondering where I missed, just bottled last night tasted okay, just a bit green. Had an OG of 1.060 so not sure where that puts my ABV. This is my first 5 gallon batch, had done 3 Mr. Beer batches before this... Followed Recipe exactly with the kit from my LHBS

 

[mgortel]

Yeah and Al Gore invented the internet! hahaha lol

 

[OhReally]

I ended up with a FG at 1.018. Is this high for this? I'm wondering where I missed, just bottled last night tasted okay, just a bit green. Had an OG of 1.060 so not sure where that puts my ABV.

One way to calculate is to take the difference in gravities and multiply by 131.25.

(OG-FG) x 131.25 = ABV

1.060-1.018 = 0.042 x 131.25 = 5.51% ABV

Cheers

 

[wilbr11]

Thank you so much for the formula! Is this around what everyone else is getting? So glad I found this forum!

 

[OhReally]

possibility #1 is your most likely explanation. when doing a partial boil and then topping up, it is difficult to get the sweet sugar-water and the plain water to mix properly. getting a higher than expected gravity reading is quite common because you pull for the denser, sugar-ier water

Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated. I hope to move to full boils at some point (sooner than later with luck). It's an ever-evolving learning process, and fantastic.

Cheers!

 

[JonnyG77]

Just finished kegging my first batch of WH Honey porter. It smelled delicious so I decided to taste the "green" beer. The initial taste was about what I would expect. I could taste hops and honey but the after taste was really bitter. Is this normal? Just wondering if anybody else noticed this. Only my 4th time brewing and I'm worried the taste is jeopardized.

Also I should point out that during primary fermentation I had to bleed off some of the foam because it was so active. To do this I had to move the batch to my living room where it got some light exposure. I tried to minimize this by covering the carboy in a blanket. I've heard light exposure causes a skunky flavor. It definately did not have that taste. Just very bitter.

Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks and brew on!

 

[alestateyall]

I ended up with a FG at 1.018. Is this high for this? I'm wondering where I missed, just bottled last night tasted okay, just a bit green. Had an OG of 1.060 so not sure where that puts my ABV. This is my first 5 gallon batch, had done 3 Mr. Beer batches before this... Followed Recipe exactly with the kit from my LHBS

1.018 is not too high FG. Windsor yeast has a predicted attenuation of 70% which is actually exactly what you got. Typically actual attenuation results vary +/- a few percent from the predicted amount.

To calculate attenuation use (OG-FG)/OG (in points). 60-18/60=42/60=0.7

 

[wilbr11]

Okay, cool, thank you so much! Needing to develop the confidence to know things work as they should I guess.. Worried I screwed up..thank you so much!

 

[mtnagel]

I ended up with a FG at 1.018. Is this high for this? I'm wondering where I missed, just bottled last night tasted okay, just a bit green. Had an OG of 1.060 so not sure where that puts my ABV. This is my first 5 gallon batch, had done 3 Mr. Beer batches before this... Followed Recipe exactly with the kit from my LHBS

I brewed the White House ale from Northern Brewer on 10/31. Used a yeast starter and had healthy fermentation for a few days and no more bubbles for at least a week. The temperature was at the low end for the yeast, which is 64F, which I was around or a little higher for the first several days then it got cold and basement dropped to 63F. I wanted to check the gravity but I broke my hydrometer this weekend Got to my LHBS on Monday and got a new one and the gravity is at 1.020. I measured Tuesday and got the same 1.020. Northern said the FG should be about 1.007 - 1.014. There was also a healthy head of krausen on top too when I first took the gravity on Monday and it was less, but still there on Tuesday. I did move it to my dining room, which keeps it around 68F on Monday evening. There has been very slow air lock activity.

I wanted to move the beer to secondary so I could reuse the White House ale yeast to brew a milk stout which I plan to put in a used whiskey barrel. Due to vacations coming up (thanksgiving and xmas), I really wanted to brew yesterday reusing the yeast but I decided to just use the dry yeast that came with the kit because I figured my fermentation was stuck and I didn't want to use questionable yeast. So I'll probably just leave the honey ale in primary until I get back from vacation so it will probably be in primary for about 4 weeks. I will probably take a couple gravity readings before bottling just to see where it's at, but I can't imagine it wouldn't be done by then.

 

[sweetcell]

One way to calculate is to take the difference in gravities and multiply by 131.25.

(OG-FG) x 131.25 = ABV

1.060-1.018 = 0.042 x 131.25 = 5.51% ABV

Cheers

being lazy, i let a website do the math for me

http://pint.com.au/calculators/alcohol/ tells me 1.060 --> 1.018 = 5.45% ABV.

 

[alestateyall]

I brewed the White House ale from Northern Brewer on 10/31. Used a yeast starter and had healthy fermentation for a few days and no more bubbles for at least a week. The temperature was at the low end for the yeast, which is 64F, which I was around or a little higher for the first several days then it got cold and basement dropped to 63F. I wanted to check the gravity but I broke my hydrometer this weekend Got to my LHBS on Monday and got a new one and the gravity is at 1.020. I measured Tuesday and got the same 1.020. Northern said the FG should be about 1.007 - 1.014. There was also a healthy head of krausen on top too when I first took the gravity on Monday and it was less, but still there on Tuesday. I did move it to my dining room, which keeps it around 68F on Monday evening. There has been very slow air lock activity.

I wanted to move the beer to secondary so I could reuse the White House ale yeast to brew a milk stout which I plan to put in a used whiskey barrel. Due to vacations coming up (thanksgiving and xmas), I really wanted to brew yesterday reusing the yeast but I decided to just use the dry yeast that came with the kit because I figured my fermentation was stuck and I didn't want to use questionable yeast. So I'll probably just leave the honey ale in primary until I get back from vacation so it will probably be in primary for about 4 weeks. I will probably take a couple gravity readings before bottling just to see where it's at, but I can't imagine it wouldn't be done by then.

1.020 is a bit high but it is not the end of the world. Just make sure to read the gravity again and confirm the gravity has stopped changing. If the gravity is stable you can safely bottle at 1.020 and the beer will still be great.

You don't need to secondary. Leaving the beer in primary longer has the same effect.

 

[mtnagel]

Thanks for the info. I only was going to move to secondary so I could reuse the yeast in another beer that I needed to brew now. Now that I'm not reusing the yeast, it will primary for about a month, just like the 10 gallons of White House honey porter I made.

 

[seedubxj]

Sent you a completely unrelated PM colincbn.

 

[MtnHiBrewin]

I rarely move anything to a secondary. Every now and then, but not often. My White House Porter stayed in the primary 19 days, and turned out great.

 

[sloose]

I rarely move anything to a secondary. Every now and then, but not often. My White House Porter stayed in the primary 19 days, and turned out great.

My only reasons for secondary are 1) to free up a primary fermenter and 2) I'm rather clumsy when it comes to the trub cake while racking so the less of it there is the clearer my beer gets. Not that I really care about clarity.

 

[Ben_D]

SO, fun day here, Trying to make this honey porter and i miss read the recipe (i thought there was only 3.3 pounds of malt, not 2 cans of 3.3 pounds ) so in a frantic search for a solution i used approximately 1.5 pounds of brown sugar. may be an interesting result. any ideas on what i can expect. I am more than happy to share the results if anyone is interested.

 

[sweetcell]

in a frantic search for a solution i used approximately 1.5 pounds of brown sugar. may be an interesting result. any ideas on what i can expect.

the beer will be quite dry (the opposite of sweet), and it will be low on maltiness. you will likely taste the alcohol a little more. the brown sugar should give a subtle caramel flavor, especially if you happened to used dark brown sugar (the typical stuff you bake with is light brown sugar).

3.3 pounds of LME has the same potential as approx 2.75 lb of brown sugar. so technically you needed to add another 1.25 pounds to get back to the same point. however it was a good thing that you limited yourself to 1.5, going with 2.75 would have been too much. my suggestion: if you can, get a pound or a pound and a half of dried extract, boil it in a little water to sterilize it, and add it to your fermenter. liquid will also work, but unless your LHBS sells it in bulk it can be annoying to open a can, use some, then need to re-seal and keep for another brew day. also, it's bad for freshness if you aren't going to brew again soon. DME does a better job of sitting on the shelf.

whatever you do (including leaving it as-is), let us know how it turns out.

 

[Ben_D]

Thanks for the feedback brotha. It's bubbling nicely now and tasted good (sweet with a good roasted flavor, i had to use 40l crystal malt btw) before i put in the yeast so hopefully it maintains some of that flavor. I'm going to just let it go and see what happens. Call me hopeful. I will keep updating.

 

[alestateyall]

I am trying my version tonight. It is good. I taste honey up front then a malty sweet finish. Mild fruity hops flavor. I don't get any alcohol taste. It is a pretty heavy beer.

OG 1060
FG 1017

I used wildflower honey from a local bee keeper. The honey was awesome by itself.

I used caramel 60 for the "amber crystal malt."

It seems darker than the pictures from the video. iBrewmaster estimates 10 SRM which seems about right.